If you’re looking for a beautiful and easy-to-use Daily Planner for a homemaker/mom, you’ll want to check out this giveaway. This Daily Planner is versatile and it helps a homemaker to organize her days and duties.

Created by a mom of six (Sue Hooley) who wanted a planner that offered a lot of flexibility. I was very impressed with the sample planners Sue sent me and I think many of you will love these, too.

Sue understood that a homemaker’s day can rarely be scheduled and structured the same as the one before, nor can every task fit neatly into the time-slot allotted by other planners. Since her first publication in 2010, thousands of homemakers have benefited from the daily planner.

The Planner is spiral bound for easy use and the cover is laminated for durability. Two pockets included. It has seven sectional tabs:

An overview of the year by month.

Two-page spreads for entries each month.

Two-page spreads for entries each week. This allows you to sketch out an entire week, day by day.

A section to enter projected tasks.

A section to enter specific projects.

A section to keep a listing of personal contact information.

A perforated shopping list section allows you to take the list with you.

Buy A 2016 Planner, Get a 2015 Planner for FREE!

Right now, if you purchase a 2016 Planner, you’ll get a 2015 Planner for free! That way, you don’t have to wait until January to start getting organized!

These planners are available through Homemakers Depot — an online store that provides resources to encourage, enlighten and help the Christian Homemaker. Homemaker’s Depot offers free shipping on orders over $49.

Would you like to enter to win a 2015 + a 2016 Homemaker’s Friend Planner? Just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address to enter to win. 10 winners will be chosen and posted next week. This giveaway ends Saturday, August 1, at 11:59 pm, CST.

Awhile back, Montessori By Mom generously sent me one of their Monthly Toolboxes to review.

Montessori By Mom is small business operated by Nathan & Teresa Hadsall. I love their concept of monthly craft and educational toolboxes that encourage kids to do hands-on, creative activities to learn and explore different themes.

If you subscribe to their Monthly Toolbox Subscription, each month they’ll send you a box that contains everything necessary for hours and hours of Montessori-inspired activities that follow a theme to engage the imagination. Most Toolboxes also contain authentic, high-quality Montessori materials.

All the curriculum and materials are curated by experienced, AMS accredited Montessori teachers. They also provide an online video to explain the how and why of each activity.

You don’t have to be a Montessori expert to provide a high quality Montessori education for your children. As long as you are subscribed, you will also have access to the online community where you can ask questions and interact with other parents.

They sent us this Art Appreciation Toolbox — which had a Masterpiece Art Collection, a Make Your Own Paint Set, and Montessori Shape Work Book. There were multiple activities you could do with each item: studying the paintings, matching the paintings to the artist, talking about different types of paintings and art, trying to paint the pictures, making your own paint, talking about blending colors to create new colors, talking about paint consistencies, being creative with your own paintings and artwork, talking about different shapes and how they show up in everyday life and in artwork… and the list could go on and on.

Our favorite parts of the kit were making our own paint and trying to match the colors in the artwork and then re-create the pictures they sent. We also enjoyed displaying some of the art on the little easel they sent and changing it out periodically. It’s a great way to encourage kids to notice and appreciate art.

The Montessori By Mom boxes are designed for kids ages 3-5, however, as you can tell from the pictures, Kaitlynn (8) and Silas (6) really enjoyed them. I thought most of the activities could be for a wide range of ages.

I loved that they sent so many projects and supplies. We were able to spend a long time working on the projects and my kids were very engaged in them. Honestly, I had to get in on the fun, too.

I mean when else have I had the opportunity to make homemade watercolors and then paint with them?

I was very impressed by the quality of the materials. They weren’t cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. And they definitely sparked a lot of creativity.

However, I would say that this is not the type of box you could just hand off to your child and let them have fun with it. My kids needed some supervision, help, and guidance with the projects.

I also expected there to be more detailed instructions and ideas sent with the box. They did give quite a few activity ideas, but I would have loved for them to have been spelled out in more detail.

I think the biggest drawback for me with the Montessori By Mom Toolboxes is the price. The cheapest option is $50 per month. And while it’s a quality box that you get and it has quite a few activities that you could spend hours doing, that’s still really expensive in my book.

Yesterday’s winner was: Jen (jenr126@) — you should have received an email with your code.

*Note: By filling out the form, you are agreeing to be added to the Cents of Style email list to be notified of sales they run. However, you are more than welcome to unsubscribe from their list at any time if you are not interested.

Want to start packing lunches for your kids, your spouse, or yourself to take to school or work each day? Here are three strategies to help you simplify and streamline the process:

1. Have a Plan

I know that this sounds so simple, but your success in actually following through with your good ideas and ambitions all hinges on actually having a plan. Just as you need to plan a menu for the week and buy the groceries to make those meals if you want to, you know, eat at home, you also need to have a plan for lunches you want to pack if you actually want them to be able to get packed!

Think ahead of time how many lunches you’ll be packing that week, what you’ll be packing, and what groceries you need to purchase. I recommend keeping it as simple as possible.

Don’t feel pressured by Pinterest pictures to think you need to come up with fancy new meal ideas every single day. Really, you don’t. Trust me on this.

Instead, rotate a few different sandwich options and side options throughout the week. It really won’t hurt anyone to eat the same thing a few times each week!

Write this list of lunch ideas down, write down the ingredients you need to buy, and then you can use this plan over and over again. I recommend typing it up and laminating it or keeping it in an app on your phone so that you never have do the planning work again.

If the thought of making the same thing over and over and over again just won’t work for you or your family, try a 4-week or 6-week rotating lunch menu. This is more work to plan and follow through with, but once you’ve made the plan and created a grocery list based upon the plan, again, your planning work is done.

Need some motivation to put forth the effort to plan and make lunches? How about considering how much money you’ll save by doing so.

Over the past 12 and a half years of our marriage, I’ve packed countless lunches, not only for when Jesse was in law school and then working outside the home, but also for myself and/or the kids when we are out and about for the day or on a field trip.

One time a few years ago, I sat down and did the math. And it astounded me!

I figured out that most of the lunches I’ve packed cost anywhere between $0.75 to $1.50 each (remember, that’s mostly because I’ve shop the sales, used coupons, and stocked up on items when they are at their lowest prices!). A lunch at a fast food restaurant is likely going to cost at least $4-$5 at a minimum.

Based upon these calculations, it is very safe to say that packing a lunch has saved us at least $3 each and every time. Over the course of the year, that could add up to as much as $750 saved — just for packing a lunch for one person!

And that could be a low figure. You see, if someone is eating out at nicer restaurants most days and spending $7-$12 per lunch, the savings would be significantly higher! In addition to the savings, there’s also the added benefit of homemade lunches also often being much more healthful for you as well–especially when compared with fast food meals.

2. Prep Ahead

Part of the drawback to packing a lunch is the part where you have to pack it. If only lunches just magically packed themselves, eh?

One of the best ways to make things simpler is to prep things in bulk. When you get back from the grocery store, wash and chop all the carrots and celery and store them in a little water in an airtight container in the fridge. Slice the cheese. Cut up the melon. Wash off the berries. Hard boil the eggs. Bake the chicken.

Have everything as ready to stick into a lunchbox as you possibly can. This will make packing a lunch a breeze and will give you little excuse not to actually make it happen.

I’ve also found that doing sack lunch prep the night before makes it so much easier. For some reason, I’m much more motivated and creative at nighttime than I am most mornings. Take a few minutes after dinner to figure out what you’ll be packing the next morning and even get as much as possible ready. You’ll never regret this in the morning!

A few of our favorite Make Ahead Lunch Ideas:

3. Use Your Freezer

One thing that helped me in packing lunches was to divvy up serving-size portions of muffins and cookies in baggies and stick them in the freezer. Then, when I’m packing lunches, I can just pull a few of these baggies out to add to the lunch and round things out.

Baggies of muffins and cookies are also great to have on hand for when we’ll be out and about running errands. Being prepared with our own food means we divert the urge to make a quick stop through the drive thru!

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Yesterday’s winner was: Monika (Monikatodorovic86@) — you should have received an email with your code.

*Note: By filling out the form, you are agreeing to be added to the Cents of Style email list to be notified of sales they run. However, you are more than welcome to unsubscribe from their list at any time if you are not interested.

But as more and more people recommended it, I decided to just at least take a peek at it. I was intrigued enough that when the folks at Dressing Your Truth asked if I’d write a review of their program, I told them I’d consider it.

However, I said I would only write a review on two conditions: 1) That I loved the program and found it to be very helpful and 2) if they’d do a giveaway for my readers.

In all honesty, I didn’t think I’d like the program. I thought I’d probably watch one or two of the lessons and decide it just wasn’t worth my time or your time. So I doubted I’ll actually end up even writing a review or running a giveaway.

Boy, was I ever wrong!

I actually ended up finding the entire course utterly fascinating! And many, many of you who have been with me in person over the past few months have not only heard me passionately sharing about it, you’ve also probably noticed that I’m gradually shifting over to wearing much more bold and bright colors.

Why? Because going through the course helped me to really solidify what type of person I am and what colors and styles really mesh with my inner personality and bents. It’s been amazing to me to realize that when I dress in accordance to the type of personality I have, I feel much more confident and energetic.

What is the Dressing Your Truth Course?

In the Dressing Your Truth course you’ll discover which of the 4 Types of beauty you express, plus learn the tools for how to express your true beauty through your clothes, accessories, makeup and hair.

This 3-hour course teaches you about the 5 elements of style—color, fabrication, texture, design lines, and pattern—and how to determine what type of person you are and how you should dress for that type. It shares in-depth suggestions for not only clothes, but also accessories, makeup, and hair.

By helping you learn exactly what looks best on you, the Dressing Your Truth course not only transforms your outward appearance to match your inner true personality, but it also saves you a lot of time and effort because you’ll be able to streamline your wardrobe down to those styles and colors and patterns that look best on you and fit your personality type.

Caveat: Some of the parts of the course are a little “out there” and borderline weird. But overall, I found the course to be very interesting and engaging, very thought-provoking, and very eye-opening to me. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to approach clothes and how I dress in the same way again as a result of going through this course.

It’s been close to 10 months since I’ve gone through the course. Since then, I’ve slowly weeded out the items from my wardrobe that aren’t my type. I’ve found that knowing exactly what works for me makes getting dressed and shopping for clothes so much easier. I can almost instantly spot what will and won’t work, I have much more confidence about putting outfits together, and more and more, people are asking ME for input and ideas on their clothes and outfits!!

Let me tell you, that completely surprises me each and every time it happens. But I’m always more than happy to share what I’ve learned! If I can help someone else have the same experience I’ve had in discovering what styles and colors best suit their personality, I’m all about that!

Since I last ran a giveaway, the course has been updated to include new information, more transformations and a member’s area called DYT Life that helps you apply the information beyond your outer appearance.

Want to Go Through the Dressing Your Truth Course for FREE?

One reader will win both the Dressing Your Truth online course and a $200 shopping spree to spend in the Dressing Your Truth online store! This life-changing course also includes hours of personal style training, DYT Club Membership, outfit guides, monthly online events, and much more. The Dressing Your Truth online store features customized apparel, jewelry, accessories and makeup—all handpicked for each of the 4 Types of beauty.

To enter, click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. One winner will be chosen and posted next week. This giveaway ends Thursday, July 30, at 11:59 pm, CST.